Welcome

Points Of View Essay

Below is a free excerpt of "Points Of View Essay" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples.

How does the perspective or point of view of the story cloud the truth?
It is human nature to have different points of view on things, and to see things differently than others. Points of view make us each unique. Every time a story is told there is always someone with a bias side retelling the same story. They either don’t tell you all the facts from the other side, or they just don’t acknowledge the other side of the story at all. In the stories “My side of the Matter,” “Sinking house,” and “Yellow Wallpaper,” from the anthology Points of View which includes different stories that show human nature, and how humans can have a different point of view to a story, and how it personally affects the story as well, sometimes disguising or exaggerating the truth.
The short story “Sinking House” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, has two characters who tell the story from their own point of view. One of them, Muriel, a woman who suffers from the loss of her husband tries to cope with the death, and lets all of the water in her house run, not only sinking her own house but the whole neighborhood as well. As readers we also have different points of view of the story, we can either interpret the story as she did this because the sound of the water would distract her from the sad thoughts in her mind, drowning the thoughts with the water, or we can also interpret it as her wanting to forget about her husband and completely ignore his absence because she didn’t want him there either way. Meg, the other character who tells the other side of the story, thinks that this insane old lady needs help trying to figure out what to do and how to cope with the loss of her husband. Meg describes her to her own husband when she says, “She’s nuts, she is. Really. I mean she’s out of her gourd.” (Boyle 452) When Meg went to see if Muriel was okay and to say sorry for the loss, Muriel completely ignored her about turning the water off, and she did not excuse herself from ruining her backyard. When...